Martinelli and Co. dodging the bullet

What we all expected happened: Ricardo Martinelli, relatives, and members of what was his cabinet were absent from the first hearing of the Odebrecht process, a case in which he and his gang have spent their time accusing those who could, but the time to show their faces, all of them excused themselves, while those who denounced so much, at least showed up to face what they now cowardly avoid. It seems that justice manages to make these subjects unattainable. That is why changes are urgently needed in the judicial system because the victims – in this case the State – are defenseless: everything is rigged against them. Will they ever be caught up in justice? That will depend on the will of judges and magistrates and how tolerant society is in the face of a genuflexion justice. But the intrinsic message that we Panamanians receive from these excuses is that those who presented them fear being exposed, that the whole country sees them naked, with their hollow speeches. Public ridicule is a powerful weapon for those who have everything to lose, and as long as they don’t appear before a judge, their fearful message comes loud, clear, manifest, and unequivocal to all of us. – LA PRENSA, Jul. 19.